Marilyn Manson will not face criminal charges in Los Angeles related to the domestic violence and sexual assault allegations that have been leveled against him.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that after a four-year investigation, prosecutors had determined that the domestic abuse allegations against Manson (real name Brian Warner) fell outside the statute of limitations, and that the sexual assault charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
“We recognize and applaud the courage and resilience of the women who came forward to make reports and share their experiences, and we thank them for their cooperation and patience with the investigation,” the statement from the DA’s office read. “While we are unable to bring charges in this matter, we recognize that the strong advocacy of the women involved has helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault.”
A lawyer for Warner did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
As detailed in a 2021 Rolling Stone exposé, Warner has faced numerous allegations of sexual assault and violence over the years, including claims brought by actresses Evan Rachel Wood and Esmé Bianco, as well as model Ashley Morgan. Warner has repeatedly denied the accusations against him.
In a statement, Bianco said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision not to charge Warner, but “sadly not surprised.”
She continued: “Within our toxic culture of victim blaming; a lack of understanding of coercive control, the complex nature of sexual assault within intimate partnerships, and statutes of limitations that do not support the realities of healing; prosecutions face an oftentimes insurmountable hurdle. Once again, our justice system has failed survivors. Not the individual prosecutors and detectives who worked for years on this case, but the system that made them do so with one hand tied behind their collective backs. Seven years ago when I was faced for the first time with that failure, it set me out on a journey of advocacy and activism, but with that came a very clear directive. My healing and peace could not be reliant upon the outcome of a desperately broken system.”
In Nov. 2021, not long after the publication of that Rolling Stone story, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department raided Warner’s home, searching for belongings connected to sexual assault allegations made against him between 2009 and 2011. Nearly a year later, the Sheriff’s Department finally submitted the findings of its 19-month investigation to the district attorney’s office.
This story is developing…
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